Garden club noting its 80th anniversary

Justin Fogarty/The Post-StandardSally Theis of Manlius works on removing a weed from the floral garden at the intersection of Meadowbrook Drive and Bradford Parkway in Syracuse. She is a member of the Syracuse Garden club.

The Syracuse Garden Club has been beautifying Central New York for four score.

As it celebrates its 80th anniversary, Nita Pierson, past-president of the club and member for six years reflects on the many accomplishments it has made to our community. “Our garden club is interested in our community, our environment and, of course, gardening,” said Pierson “It’s not just about planting flowers, we do many civic projects.”

A luncheon to honor the 80th anniversary of the club will be noon Monday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 701 E. Genesee St., Syracuse. It will feature a presentation by gardening expert and television personality Ken Druse.

There are currently59 club members and ages range from early 20s to mid-80s. Although the age difference is vast, members share one thing in common: A love of gardening.

“My favorite part of the club is the friendships. We share a common interest, no matter what age,” Pierson said. “We work together on community projects and we share gardening secrets.”

Sally Theis has been a member for five years.

“I love to garden and it seemed to be a group of kindred spirits. But it has been so much more than that, it’s about constantly learning about horticulture with great speakers who are passionate about the environment,” said Theis.

“If you think of our club as a group of primly dressed ladies sitting around drinking tea, you’re mostly wrong; because we are usually in blue jeans, work shirts, heavy gloves and serious implements of cutting in our hands,” she said. “ Not sitting, but kneeling in the earth planting bulbs. And we ain’t drinking tea. But, the ‘ladies’ part is right.”

The Syracuse Garden Club is one of 199 member clubs in the Garden Club of America. Its volunteers have dedicated time, effort and expertise to numerous landscaping and beautification projects throughout the Syracuse area.

One of the organization’s most notable efforts was the design, planting, maintenance and guide to the Locktender’s Garden at the Erie Canal Museum, downtown Syracuse, which earned it the Garden Club of America’s Founders Award in 1991.

“The garden wasdesigned with flowers and herbs that would have grown in that period — the heyday of the canal — the 1800’s,” said Diana Goodsight, executive director of the Erie Canal Museum. “They did all of the research and design work, and created an oasis in the middle of the city.

“Club volunteers maintain the garden year round at their expense and their own labor,” Goodsight continued. “They do this absolutely free, and accept only our thanks. They definitely have the green thumbs, not us.”

Over the past eight decades, the club has protected and improved the appearance of numerous locations across Central New York, including donating display cases to Baltimore Woods Nature Center, planting day lilies at Beaver Lake Nature Center, restoring a Revolutionary War Cemetery in Manlius and planting trees and lilacs at Thornden Park in Syracuse.

Recently, members planted 50,000 daffodil bulbs that bloom each spring at the Interstate 481 interchange in DeWitt, the Rosamond Gifford Zoo and at Oakwood Cemetery.

“I think 80 years ago the club was more about gardening. Now, I think it is more community minded,” Pierson said.

“The cooperation is great, too. It’s nice to work together with other organizations, the county and the city to make our community more beautiful and to take care of it.”

The club and the city of Syracuse co-sponsored a project that helped the Meadowbrook Drive neighborhood in Syracuse transform the roadway median’s hard-pack grass end caps into flowerbeds. In addition to beautification, the project was designed to help absorb rainwater runoff. Neighbors added to the effort by doubling the amount of garden end caps and added colorful and creative birdhouses.

In addition, the organization contributes to the balance of the ecosystem through environmental conservation. In partnership with the Spade & Trowel Garden Club, members released galerucella beetles in the Cicero Swamp and along the Erie Canal Park. These insects are a bio-control for purple loosestrife, an invasive species that is crowding out natural vegetation important to the health of those wetlands.

“Two or three of us go out and put the beetles right on the plant. They are teeny-tiny beetles, but they do their job — it’s amazing,” Pierson said.

To honor its founding in 1931, the volunteer, nonprofit organization planted a swamp white oak in downtown Syracuse’s Fayette Park. The trees are the same species as the 400 planted at the 9/11 memorial in New York City.